That looks awsome man!
Really great! I love it.
But indeed those textures are way better than google earth :0
Great to see another map coming!
I hope this one will even be better!

Keep us updated!

At first I thought you meant the city Zion (from the Matrix series). :tongue:
I can only say; Wow, what a cool location! Your Castaway map was great, so I'm looking forward to see what you'll do with this one.
Good luck, man!

Nanosuit is an integral part of Crysis and it's fun. I think you would make a mistake not to use it.

sounds sweet zap...but you will have to optimise the level for performence becuase my editor crashed as soon as i loaded Castaway...it went over 1.7 GBs of ram lol...it worked better in the actual game tho

Yep, leasons learned.

The biggest reason Castaway was so memory intensive wasn't optimizing it was the sheer amount of stuff in the map. The engine loads all geometry into memory whether or not you can see it. It seems to only load textures dynamically.

For this map if it grows to be too large I will split it in to two maps, an interior and exterior model.

While the terrain is larger a lot of it is not directly visible and will be far less detailed, For example the terrain texture in the active areas is 1024x1024, while visible, but non-playable is 512x512, and non-visible is 128x128.

Yeah - it would definitely be a good idea IMHO to have smaller, multiple maps than to have one jumbo map like you did with Castaway. I found that using a 512x512 map for WA was VERY beneficial for performance, and as a result I actually got some very positive feedback from people about the framerates. Plus it would probably be easier also if you plan on using a lot of vis-areas and occlusion and that sort of thing again - to have separate maps for indoor/outdoor areas - you wouldn't have to worry about the editor crashing so much :tongue:

BTW - if you need any help/advice with AI, vegetation or optimization - feel free to ask.

Rather then continuous AI battles, (Castaway) I plan on doing more scripted and cinematic battles. And there will probably be fewer of them.

Introducing BuzzBomb (alpha version)


Large image

This little guys is a UAV that will hopefully be in the game.
He is made using all in-game assets. (For some reason XSI no longer runs on my system)
He is going to take a lot of complex flowgraphs, as I want him to have some (Very) basic AI.

:O Thats hot, what does it fire? :]

Buzzbomb flies! And pretty good for a two-day old bot.


Large image

This little guy is packed with features:
-Automatically holds a vertical position in space.
-Automatically self-levels (if flipped or hit with an explosion)
-Can automatically fly to any point you aim it at
-Can be flown by remote control (First or third-person)
-Flight controls include up, down, left, right, forward and backward.
-Has a tractor beam for small objects.
-Has a shield
-Can fire energy weapons
-Can push objects out of the way
-And more yet to be determined.
-100% flowgraph controlled.
-Front eye can look anywhere independent of body.

Building him was quite a challenge.
He is built using all in-game objects. His body is built using three RigidBodyEx entities.
One for the front, middle and back. He also has three "Thrusters" which are invisible rigidbodies.

All the rigidbodies are held together with constraints. This is what allows for the automatic fluid motion when he turns or moves.

The thrusters work like real-to-life thrusters.
Basically how it works is the thruster measures it's current position vertically in space.
If it falls below that position then a ImpulseAction is applied to the thruster bring it back up. Once it reaches the set position it cuts the thruster and begins to fall again. This cycle repeats and he hovers in space. Each of the three thrusters works the same way.

By applies extra force on each of the thrusters and a few other places he can be made to move in any direction and flown by remote control. You can change his elevation and he will remember automatically and stay at that height.

He also has auto-pilot. Navigation is done by him actually looking at a location and then moving towards it. The eye on the front looks at the target location, and an impulse action is made in the direction the eye is looking. The body follows automatically.

Forward motion is done the same way, but almost literally by hanging a carrot in front of his nose. A invisible point is set exactly in front of him, he looks at it and moves in that direction.

He can be made via a flowgraph to track any entity you want.

In the demo video I show remote controlled flight, and auto pilot using four points.

Next up is making him so he can automatically follow the character or another entity.

Further actions to be programmed in:
-Fly to here (Player commands, Buzzbomb moves to that point automatically)
-Fetch a target object using tractor beam and bring it back
-Defense mode
-Attack mode

The video will be online once VEOH has processed it.

[VIDEOEXT=540,438]http://www.veoh.com/veohplayer.swf?permalinkId=v14254073McWFTmCz&id=9773925&player=videodetailsembedded&affiliateId=&videoAutoPlay=0[/VIDEOEXT]

Too cool Zap

but - will it crash my computer? :tongue: I mean - this is a big step up from ammo dispensing computers

Haha cute :easter:

Love the trail and the fact he (or is it a she? ) has a tail. Cool design. Looks like it belongs in Star Wars

Im really gonna have to delve into flowgraphs soon.

That is so awesome. You could make it so you could grab onto him so he could fly you around for a short time. That would be kinda cool. On a side note. How did you make that laser on the front of him?

Actually he is step up from the automated spot-light in the prison camp.
His flowgraph is surprisingly light on math, in testing there is virtually no increase in CPU power.


I tested "Pick-up" mode, and you can actually drag him around (it doesn't look very good though) But I also tested that he can pick you up with his tractor beam if it is set large enough. He can even drag the player along if moving slow enough. (An impulse action on the player to keep him in sync would work too) However story wise I don't plan on using him that way. The laser is a GeomEntity, search the entity list it's there.

Also I just got basic following actions done.
I have him constantly track the player with his eye. If you move more then 3 meters away he starts heading in your direction. His thrust is directly proportional do the distance you are away, so he can play catch-up. This also means he won't rush into you at full speed, he slows down before reaching you. But like AI of-old he can still get stuck on a wall if you turn the corner too fast. He also matches your elevation automatically so if you go up or down a hill he will always hover about shoulder level.

Lots to still do, but I am happy that this kind of stuff is possible as it opens up all kinds of robotic AI.

On and FYI, no I am not posting the flowgraph, you will have wait for the map he is key to my story line.

ride that sucker...

i like it.. but functionalibity lol how will it help gameplay??

anyhow.. its awesome

wow...dont you just love creating "things" in FG